What did you guys think of this debate?:
http://mises.org/multimedia/block/Block_Debate_05-08-2008.mp3
Personally I was pretty embarassed that the debate moderator was attempting to debate one of the economists and had an almost angry tone when speaking to one of the debaters. Also, the debate moderator seemed to confuse economic methodology with political ideology. Am I the only one who felt this way?
Is this respresentative of the quality of debates that the LvMI engages in? To me it seemed completely one sided and had all kinds of unnecessary ad hominem attacks. Thoughts?
"Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it." -Milton Friedman
"It is a mistake to think businessmen are more immoral than politicians." -John Maynard Keynes
I'll check this out later today. Thanks.
I would make a great bureaucrat. Wanna see? Click here. It's fun.
Haven't seen it, but it very well might be. Block usually has the misfortune of debating angry, economically illiterate individuals on the minimum wage. The one I last saw involved the disputant using moral arguments (after failing to refute Block's economic arguments) as an attempt to close the argument.
-Jon
I cannot be caged. I cannot be controlled. Understand this as you die, ever pathetic, ever fools.
Irenicus' Diaries.
Yeah, I agree with you. I wish the debate moderator would have stayed out of it. It also seemed very childish at the beginning when they were arguing over how long each of them got to speak.
Block utterly crushed his opponent! His opponent had no real arguments at all, the only thing he brought too the discussion was desperate attepts to declare Block old fashion because he felt that Block didn't respect the latest empirical research on the subject. But as Block pointed out, if it is empirical research he wants to discuss then he must surely know that most of it would conclude that the minimum wage is a bad idea.
When his opponent got pushed in too a corner, so to speak, he had a nasty habit of defending himself, not with logic and reason but with a plea to trust the governments own research on the subject which of course is pretty ironic since he was debating with a libertarian!
"Try to imagine a regulation of labor imposed by force that is not a violation of liberty; a transfer of wealth imposed by force that is not a violation of property. If you cannot reconcile these contradictions, then you must conclude that the law cannot organize labor and industry without organizing injustice." — from The Law
The "debate moderator" was a talk radio host from what I could tell. And clearly was very much in favor of Block's position. As talk radio hosts will do, she gave her favored side more time and the opposing side more hostile questions.
Though ad hominems are generally frowned upon, this was a very informal debate and Block's zinger when he got interrupted was hilarious. "Oh, I don't mind being interrupted. If I had the incorrect view, I'd probably be interrupting you."
In all, this certainly wasn't the best debate Dr. Block's ever had, but it was solid. The format could have been better, the moderator could have been fairer, the opposition could have been stronger, but I think it was instructive at least in showing once again that the apologists for the minimum wage have to resort to inventive empirical "evidence" to make their points.
scineram:I only saw the Block-Blundell video, that was at a university. Block did well, but the stupid students could not even grasp the arguments! I will check this out now.
For those like myself that wonder where you can watch this debate: here it is
Equality before the law and material equality are not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time. -- F. A. Hayek in The Constitution of Liberty
scineram:Have you guys seen Block taking it to the black socialists? Search for Our Story. One video after Katrina, one on the modern prohibition. Funny.
Wow. I thought that I would just be watching a little bit of that, but I just got sucked in and ended up watching the full two hours. Thank you for that. That was unbelievable. While it was very, very funny, I also found it very sad. It's so unfortunate that these kind of people and these type of ideas are so prevalent. Walter Block is a champ, though. I couldn't believe that he was able to maintain his composure so well during all of that insanity. Had I been in the same situation I probably would have freaked out. Pure insanity.
Indeed. He also ranted about how "theory" can never suffice on its own. Granted, empirical studies might lead to retroactive control over pre-empirical (i.e. a priori) assumptions, but that isn't what this guy is getting at, and this definitely is not a case of it.
I am troubled by his assertion that economic theories are a branch of logic and therefore should not be subject to experiment.
For example, he sais people want to maximise their profits so they'll fire the workers who aren't worth it. Well, the employer might just as well increase their worki quota so they'll fill that gap. In physics, 1 counter-example invalidates the theory; not sure how it works in these "soft sciences", but I'm pretty sure theories have to make verifiable predictions too, to at least some degree.